1. Yes, it's a whole new look! Have questions or need help? Please post your question in the New Forum Questions thread Click the X to the right to dismiss this notice
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Seeing tons of unread posts after the upgrade? See this thread for help. Click the X to the right to dismiss this notice
    Dismiss Notice

Need Advice Data Transfer Cable....

Discussion in 'Community Broadband & Computers' started by TeamDonzi, Feb 9, 2011.

  1. TeamDonzi

    TeamDonzi ShowMeTheMoney!

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2005
    Messages:
    741
    Likes Received:
    5
    Anybody want to lend one for one laptop to laptop transfer? Is it a USB or what? Do you think my data cable to the wall will work??? ;o)
     
  2. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2006
    Messages:
    2,512
    Likes Received:
    19
    What are you trying to do? I have one that connects a hard drive or laptop hard drive to a USB port but I don't think you can use a regular USB cable for it. You need one with the right configuration of pins. I bought it at MicroCenter for about $14 and used to to transfer data from an old computer hard drive (removed from a dead machine) via USB to the new computer.

    If you're cool I'll let you borrow it. :)
     
  3. TeamDonzi

    TeamDonzi ShowMeTheMoney!

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2005
    Messages:
    741
    Likes Received:
    5
    Yes, from an HP Vista laptop to a Dell Windows 7. Nothing broken on the HP except the Aircard or the motherboard portion of it. It's under some kind of warranty but I have to forfeit the computer for weeks to get it fixed. I work all day every day with the laptop, so I'm replicating HP Vista to Dell Win 7. If the computer comes back shiny and new and working, we'll have a nice new laptop for the family. Anyway, not sure I will pull the hard drive out, I do have an external HD, but not sure how to transfer data with it.
     
  4. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2001
    Messages:
    3,277
    Likes Received:
    69
    TeamDonzi, have you taken a look at Microsoft's "Windows Easy Transfer" which is included in Vista and Windows 7?

    On your Windows 7 machine, take a look under: START-ALL PROGRAMS-ACCESSORIES-SYSTEM TOOLS and click on Windows Easy Transfer. I think it's in the same place in Vista...

    This will enable you to transfer everything over either through your home network, an external USB harddrive or thumbdrive, or using a special cable called an "Easy Transfer Cable". Personally, I would try to do it through your home network first or using an external harddrive. You can always reuse a harddrive or thumbdrive, but that cable will only be used once in a blue moon ;)

    Let me know if you have any questions!
     
  5. TeamDonzi

    TeamDonzi ShowMeTheMoney!

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2005
    Messages:
    741
    Likes Received:
    5
    Yes, looked there first. For whatever reason, HP Vista is invisible to the network and therefore, nobody else can see it. So yes, I tried, that would have been ideal. HP Vista is hardwired b/c the aircard is dead or something. But even hardwired, it says it's on a network, just not MY network. Very frustrating and confusing and calling BELKIN only made matters worse.

    To use the External HD, will it transfer all email and everything or do I still need to set all that up?
     
  6. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2001
    Messages:
    3,277
    Likes Received:
    69
    Should transfer everything; what email client do you use on the HP?
     
  7. TeamDonzi

    TeamDonzi ShowMeTheMoney!

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2005
    Messages:
    741
    Likes Received:
    5
    Windows. Mail. Also have Carbonite...hmmm
     
  8. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2001
    Messages:
    3,277
    Likes Received:
    69
    Teamdonzi, it looks like Windows Easy Transfer will *not* transfer your emails across when you use Windows Mail as your email client:

    http://www.windows7news.com/2009/08/25/windows-easy-transfer-will-not-back-up-email/

    Sorry for the bad news. You can still use WET to transfer everything else; you'll just have to do an export of your emails and then an import on the new computer as a separate step from the WET task...
     
  9. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2006
    Messages:
    2,512
    Likes Received:
    19
    I will defer to Mr. Linux as he probably knows more about the different ways to transfer data than I do, but here's my two cents:

    To be safe, backup all your email, calendar items, contacts, and bookmarks. Then you can move your My Documents stuff over easily and anything else you need. You will need to re-install most of your software so if you have some things in your My Downloads folder you'll want to back those up and copy it as well so you can access any setup programs you have located there.

    Once you have moved over your My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and all those types of things, you can work on putting the email, calendar, and contacts in their proper new locations in the Application Data folder. If you were able to export them from the old machine to a PST file you may be able to set them up that way.

    I'm not an expert at this but I have transferred files with the cable/USB connection from a desktop to a laptop, and from a laptop to a laptop and the transfer part isn't difficult, just a little time consuming to make sure you get everything right. There are software programs you can download or buy to do that kind of thing for you that might make the process simpler but I haven't used them so I can't speak to that. "To the cloud" might be an option as well but maybe transferring things over the internet will take longer than a USB connection?

    Regardless, if you'd like to borrow my cable connectors I'd be happy to drop them off at your house today. Instructions are included but it's pretty straightforward. It will require removing the hard drive from the laptop.

    Good luck!

    *This is all assuming the old computer does not boot. If it does, you can copy stuff via the regular ol' USB cable.
     
  10. TeamDonzi

    TeamDonzi ShowMeTheMoney!

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2005
    Messages:
    741
    Likes Received:
    5
    Thanks Villager, The old computer is fine as far as booting, so I'm nervous to pull out the HD. I think I might go get a usb to usb and transfer straight over. That or use the external HD, more steps...
     
  11. TeamDonzi

    TeamDonzi ShowMeTheMoney!

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2005
    Messages:
    741
    Likes Received:
    5
    I almost have to laugh, this new machine compared to the vista AMD...This is an Intel I5 and it's like lightning compared to the other laptop. I almost can't move my fingers fast enough...imagine what the I7 is like!
     
  12. Villager

    Villager Ashburn Village Resident

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2006
    Messages:
    2,512
    Likes Received:
    19
    Isn't it funny how you don't realize just how slow it is until you get a new one!
     
  13. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2001
    Messages:
    3,277
    Likes Received:
    69
    Teamdonzi, if you go the usb to usb route, make sure you get a true usb transfer cable and not just a regular usb to usb cable...
     
  14. IRideYZFR6

    IRideYZFR6 Linux Guru

    Joined:
    May 28, 2009
    Messages:
    70
    Likes Received:
    3
    The quickest way no matter what your OS would have been is a network share though your network or with an x-over cable. On your new laptop make a network share and share it out to all for r/w/x, until you got everything transferred over then disable the share.

    If not using your existing home network to transfer (cheapest solution), connect an x-over cable between the laptops and IP as follows;

    Old laptop
    IP 192.168.1.1
    Mask 255.255.255.0
    Gateway 192.168.1.2

    New laptop
    IP 192.168.1.2
    Mask 255.255.255.0
    Gateway 192.168.1.1

    Using an x-over cable this would have been a direct connect solution with no other devices between the laptops and you could feasibly transfer data at 100mb/sec.

    I don't know what USB interface you have on your old laptop but if it is 1.1 the transfer peaks at 12mb/sec, so even if your new laptop's USB interface is 2.0 (240mb/sec) once you connect the USB transfer cable you will auto-neg between the laptops to 12mb/sec if in fact your old is 1.1 or lower.
     

Share This Page